Uzumaki Naruto is
by MarshmellowDragon
Summary: Drabbles of what the boy in the orange jumpsuit was, is, and will be. To be taken with a dose of tolerance for creative license.


Uzumaki Naruto was not alone nearly as long as he thought he was.

Hidden from the public eye, not one, not two, but five families of the highest trusted upper class ninja held onto the boy for his first infant years. Every other day the boy was transferred via ANBU to his next home. This went on between these five families, and the public was none the wiser.

After all, the Kyuubi was dead, wasn't it?

There was nothing odd noted about the child, and for all the world could tell he was just a blond in a city of brunettes, nothing more. It was a normal life. That was, until one of the surrogate mothers tried to brand the boy as one of their own by an attempted sacrifice of his arm in exchange for their bloodline. _"It would have made him stronger"_ she'd stated.

It was then that Sarutobi decided that perhaps it would be better if the boy was kept in a separate environment until he was _ready_ to become a shinobi. As cruel as it may have sounded, the blond was given a newer, _simpler_ name, and promptly dumped in the most obscure orphanage that the third could find.

Uzumaki Naruto had a family until the age of six.

At five, he is no different than half of his academy class. Herded to and from school everyday, he is one of many orphans, and there is nothing odd about that. The Kyuubi had been an unnatural disaster, one that could neither have been prevented nor helped. There were many children who were the last of their line, left alone in the cold civilian barricades while their parents and siblings bought precious time for their leader. When these infants and toddlers were carried out once more, the sight to greet their wide eyes was that of smoking buildings and dead bodies. Naruto is the only one in his room to lack this sight within his memories, and for that he secretly thanks god each night.

He was the youngest by at least six months, putting him at the level of, "little brother" But whatever the case, he was no different from them. They were all equally unfortunate in each others eyes. It was in this orphanage that he learned the most. How to escape from angry chuunin for example. How to scale the Hokage monument, and only be seen when you _wanted_ to be seen.

He had big brother Shinto on the bottom bunk, big brother Shun two beds over, and big sister Maho down the hall. There was Neiru the cleaning lady, who snuck him some sweets when she could. Akiko the matron hated him, and he hated her back. Childish drawings of a chubby woman with oily hair in a bun still flood his drawers. The first time he threw a kunai properly was after using one of these pictures as his targets.

They bickered, they fought, they yelled and they lived. And the orphanage in district 6H was a family. Bonded not by blood or flesh, they forced themselves together with six years of life. And that was this boy's happiness.

Uzumaki Naruto's first encounter with the Kyuubi's power was far earlier than public knowledge states.

Of course, this happiness lasted only until the activists finally learned that the kyuubi was _not_ dead and that he was currently living under the wing of the government. Fear breeds hate, and vice versa. They thought burning it was a good idea. They figured that it would be necessary in order to purify the area. It was necessary to get rid of those who had been contaminated by the demon. Youki was already infecting their systems, the people reasoned. The demon had already spread its lies.

There were precisely 729 humans in the building when the first flames went up. Its actually amazing how terrifying a living, breathing fire can be. Faced with flames on three sides, along with three more children and a window on the fourth, a boy with sky blue eyes and shockingly blond hair stared in wonder as those in front of him were consumed by the fire. At first they had all crowded backwards, and then in time all been unable to clamber further as the orange flames had leaped up their clothing and caught. The six year old boy with the blond hair was too busy watching the fire tear skin away from his palm, and then re-grow for this to have a lasting effect.

Maho, Shinto and Shun, each having at least two years over their blond brother, weighed the options, and jumped the window. 8 year old bodies were not made for such drops, especially when said drops only landed them in the heart of the flame. Alone now, the blue-eyed boy sat there, wondering what was going on and why the room seemed so hot. Something was growling in the back of his head, and his arm with the healing skin really was starting to sting. He wanted this game to stop now. He would have said so, if there had been oxygen left to yell such words. Instead, a blond mop dropped to the floor and blue eyes shut.

This was solely because his mentality was not prepared for what would ensue. The kyuubi preferred to have its host in an undamaged state of mind after all. It made for better protection and less humiliation.

Uzumaki Naruto did not take the name Uzumaki Naruto until the age of six.

The next time the blond boy woke up, he was no longer in the orphanage. Instead, he had a bandage around his head and was laying on a rather cold and uncomfortable floor. There were a bunch of people around him, all in uniforms that he swore he'd seen before but couldn't quite place. And there was an old man. He'd _looked_ at the boy then, given him a clear once over, inspecting for something that he expected to see but obviously didn't.

"Child…Uzumaki"

"Uzumaki?"

"Your name"

"My name is Naruto" there was a flash of an older woman handing out warm bowls, a whiff of some strange scent he couldn't place, and then a blinding pain in the general direction of his bandages. The blond boy previously known as Kon gained a new name that day.

Uzumaki Naruto lived in an apartment from that day on.

------blah blah blah------

I should so be studying for Exams :P and when was the last time i updated 'of seals'? i dunno XD

i dun't own Naruto, but at least let me use the creative license to play with his past and misinterpret his present :P


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